Coping with Sickle Cell: Benefits of Writing

As I’ve stated in other posts, I recently learned that I need to have both my hips replaced. I have to wait, however, until my foot ulcers heal before I can have my first surgery. To be honest, I first felt a great amount of fear about the idea of needing those surgeries. I knew it was going to be several months before I would be healed enough to have my first surgery. I also knew that I couldn’t sit around those many months waiting in fear. I had to redirect my thoughts and put my focus on to something else.

For as long as I can remember, writing has been my best coping strategy. There is a reason why I have over fifty volumes of journals, have written two hundred plus poems, several stories, and this blog. It has been the salvation of my mental health. No matter what was bothering me, no matter how angry, or upset I may be, I’ve always been able to write a poem, or in my journal, and instantly feel better. I have also written two novel length fictional stories. Both were written during a time of great emotional stress. They are something I wrote simply to take my mind off the problem I was dealing with at the time. 

To remove myself from my anxieties about the condition of my hips, and the arrival of two new ulcers, I decided to throw myself into a new writing project. For the past several months I’ve been working on a new story, and I have to say—not to toot my own horn or anything thing—but that was a very wise decision to make.

As I’ve directed my thoughts onto this project, it’s allowed me to come to terms with the fears I previously had about the surgeries. The stress I felt is gone. I’m actually at peace about it, and—this is something I never thought I’d say—I’m looking forward to have the surgeries. I’m looking forward to not having constant pain in my hips; to being able to walk without the use of a walker; and move around normally.

Though writing isn’t the only method I use to help manage my stress and fill the mind-numbing months of monotony my body has forced upon me as of late. But it is the one I rely upon the most. My point is not to tease you about what it is that I’m writing about, but to show how important it is to find healthy coping strategies of your own.